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TSSA call Tories' freedom of movement rhetoric xenophobic and toxic

6 September 2017

TSSA response to leaked document plans that Freedom of Movement (FoM) is to end in March 2019

Said TSSA General Secretary, Manuel Cortes,

"FoM is to end in March 2019 and leaked Tory documents show plans to clamp down on unskilled labour. The xenophobic toxicity stoked by the Tory Brexit referendum is being received by our EU neighbours as a "Not welcome here" sign around Britain. EU immigrants have a choice as to which EU country they choose to settle in. And guess what? They are already exercising that right by leaving and no longer coming. For EU workers, Brexit Britain just ain't that great a place to be anymore. The Brexit falling pound and Tory imposed wage stagflation have already sent our economy is into Brexodus shock as we continue are haemorrhage the brightest and the best of EU nurses, teachers, carers, hospitality workers, agricultural workers and students.

The selective Tories may say they want the brightest minds to come here. We could certainly do with brighter minds in their cabinet! But economies don't tick because of bright minds alone. British stomachs need feeding. But as Bulgarian and Romania workers opt for Spain or Italy instead of Britain, food is already withering on British vines. And we now have a crisis with not enough unskilled labour to meet demand.

Without theBrexit ban on free movement, Labour agencies predict a 45% shortfall of seasonal EU agricultural workers as we approach the Christmas season. Fewer pluckers mean turkey shortages. And there will be many a sigh for Brussels when the spouts lie unpicked in East Anglian fields rather than on your Christmas plate.

Tory Brexit is rapidly becoming a national tragedy. Ending freedom of movement is, as Sadiq Khan has rightly said this morning, a blue print for strangling our economy. Labour must lead the opposition to the Tories on Brexit, defend the freedom of movement on which our economy depends and cut this tightening noose from around our country's neck.